A successful trade show is measured the next day: by the people you call back, not by the number of cards in your jacket pocket. Yet a stack of paper cards loses value every day. The context of each conversation fades, the cards get mixed up, and the follow-up goes out too late, or never. The simplest method is to process everything the same evening, while you still remember each conversation. Here is how to organise it with the VisitCard business card scanner.
Why the same evening, and not “after the show”
After two or three days on a booth, faces start to blur. On the evening of the first day, you still know who wanted a quote, who was looking for a partner and who was just curious. That information is what makes a good follow-up, and it is printed on no business card.
Processing the cards the same evening has three practical advantages:
- The context is still fresh: you write down what was said, the product discussed, the timeline mentioned.
- The volume stays manageable: one day of cards fits into one session; three days piled up become a chore you keep postponing.
- The follow-up can go out the next day: an email received while the show is still on is easily recognised.
During the day: prepare the evening’s work
The method starts on the booth, a few seconds per card:
- Write a note on the back of the card right after the conversation. One or two words are enough: “quote”, “call back in March”, “looking for a distributor”.
- Keep the cards in two pockets: priority follow-ups on one side, the rest on the other. In the evening, you start with the right stack.
- Offer your QR code to people who already have their phone in hand. With VisitCard’s event mode, visitors save your contact and leave you theirs, already linked to the show: those contacts will not need scanning.
In the evening: scan, check, annotate
Sit down with the day’s stack and your phone. The VisitCard scanner runs in the browser, with no app to install: open Contacts → “Scan a card” in your dashboard, or your personal scan link. Added to your phone’s home screen, the link opens like an app, without signing in. Do not share it: anyone who has it can add contacts to your address book, and you can revoke it at any time.
For each card:
- Take a photo of it lying flat, well lit, on a plain background. A blurry photo or a very graphic card can cause reading errors.
- Check the pre-filled fields: name, title, company, email, phone and, depending on the card, website, LinkedIn and address. Nothing is saved before you have reviewed it: correct what needs correcting. A second number or a second email goes into the notes.
- Copy your handwritten note into the notes field: this is when “quote” becomes “quote for twelve seats, decision in January”.
- Save. The contact joins your address book, marked “Scanned”, next to the contacts received through your card.
Then, in the contact list, give each one a status (Hot, Warm or Cold) and a tag named after the show, for example expo-zurich-2026, from the “Notes & tags” panel. Contacts left through the event QR code are linked to the event automatically; the tag, shown under each name, also flags the cards you scanned at the same show. When it is time to follow up, the list can be filtered by status.
Good to know before the show: the daily limit
The scanner accepts up to 30 scans per day and per account, 10 during a free trial. The scan link and the photos sent by your visitors count towards this limit. In practice:
- always start with the priority stack: after a very busy day, those are the cards that must go first;
- keep the rest for the next morning, before the booth opens;
- in a team, share out the cards: with the Team plan, each member has their own scanner, their own scan link and their own daily limit. Scanned contacts join the member’s card; both the member and the team owner see them.
The next day: follow up while they still remember you
Once the cards are scanned, following up becomes a matter of sorting rather than typing:
- Hot contacts get a personal email the next day that refers to the conversation: “Following our chat on your booth about…”.
- Warm contacts get a shorter message within the week, with the document you promised.
- Cold contacts stay in your address book; there is no rush.
For contacts who came through the event QR code, the show’s follow-up page tells you who to follow up (to follow up, contacted, converted, no outcome) and opens a pre-filled follow-up email. If your address book is connected to HubSpot, Pipedrive or bexio, scanned contacts are sent there just like those received through your card; otherwise, the CSV export gathers them in a file ready for Excel.
Data protection: what a business card you receive implies
A business card contains personal data. A few common-sense rules, in Switzerland (FADP) as in the European Union (GDPR):
- a card handed to you in person invites you to get back in touch about the conversation; it is not a newsletter sign-up. For marketing emails, ask for explicit consent;
- in your first message, remind the person where you met and give a simple way to stop being contacted;
- only record what serves the business relationship: notes are for professional context, not personal opinions.
On VisitCard’s side, the photo is used only to read the card, by an artificial intelligence service; it is not stored anywhere. Only the details you have checked are kept.
What about visitors who still carry paper cards?
On your VisitCard card, the “Send My Details” form can be filled in with a photo of the visitor’s card: the visitor photographs their own card, checks the fields, then sends the form, with the same consent boxes. This helps when a queue forms at the booth: visitors do the typing themselves, and you have one card fewer to scan in the evening.
In short: the evening checklist
- The priority stack first, card by card: photo, review, notes.
- A Hot, Warm or Cold status and a tag named after the show.
- The rest of the stack the next morning if the daily limit is reached.
- Follow up Hot contacts the next day, Warm contacts within the week.
The scanner is included in the Pro and Team plans, and in the 14-day Pro trial offered at sign-up, with no credit card. To go further: the help centre article Scan a paper business card and the pricing page.